Over 400 Scouters Gather for Statewide Event at Event Center

If it seemed that there was a high number of young men in the community over the weekend, you weren’t imagining it. Carbon County was playing host to a statewide scouting event that brought over 400 Boy Scouts and leaders to the area.

The event, termed a conclave, is designated as the gathering of a section of Boy Scouts belonging to the Order of the Arrow and, for the first time, one such conclave was brought to Carbon County.

The event featured five lodges, including the local lodge as well as the Utah National Parks, Great Salt Lake, Trapper Trails and Grand Teton lodges bringing scouts from across the Beehive State as well as Idaho.

“Our main goal is to be a brotherhood of cheerful service,” local lodge advisor Michael Keller explained.

The conclave not only gave the scouts a chance to grow in brotherhood but also to serve the local community as a total of $671 was raised and donated to Carbon County’s food bank by the scouts at the event.

While at the event center, those in attendance were able to participate in a range of activities including classes inside the center as well as outside. Topics ranged from Dutch oven cooking to leadership and even Native American crafts, according to Keller.

Further, the scouts were able to enjoy other, more physical activities including swimming at the local wave pool, horseback riding courtesy of the local sheriff’s posse and trying their hand at the community fishing pond.

Saturday night also had various activities for the scouts, including a presentation from local members of the tourist agency telling the young men of the area’s rich history of coal mines and mentioning a few of the local outlaws as well.

Time was also given to trade patches in addition to a Native American powwow where several of the scouts donned traditional regalia and competed in events judging both their outfits and dancing.

Keller also explained that both a non-denominational church service as well as an LDS church service was offered Sunday morning and a devotional by a former member of the LDS Church’s general young men’s presidency and his wife.

The local lodge advisor also praised community member Valynda Clark of Wellington for proposing the idea of having a conclave in the area and working to bring it to Carbon County and the event center.